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| Odysseus and the Suitors |
The following recommendation was submitted on behalf of an
applicant to highly selective colleges and universities in the US. In
yesterday’s blog entry, I enclosed a different teacher recommendation submitted on
behalf of this same student.
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This is to introduce Odysseus (name changed) who has
attended our bilingual school during the last thirteen and a half years. He
started in preschool and is expected to graduate in June.
Odysseus has to be one of the finest young men it has ever
been my pleasure to deal with in my forty years in education. He is tall, clean-cut,
kind and gentle, a born athlete with an enviable mind. He loves to compete yet
he will help a friend who has fallen behind in my class or any other. He is
mature, polite, friendly, and responsible. All these facets of his personality
were evident when he was chosen as one of the leaders of his group while they
spent three weeks doing community service in a remote hamlet two summers ago.
The boys, in groups of twenty, added a classroom to a one-room schoolhouse.
During this period hey cooked their own food, slept in the available classroom,
and managed to do this without running water or electricity.
Odysseus is athletic. He plays soccer, basketball, and
tennis. He auditioned and won a part in our school play, was chosen best delegate
in a Model UN event, and is ranked third in his class. He won an award for a
debate event in our region sponsored by Harvard that asks students to address a
pressing issue in our region of the world.
It is very clear that his education is very important for
his future, but he is still undecided about which field to enter. I am almost
certain it will be engineering with an eye to an MBA later. He comes from a
very close-knot family and has travelled extensively. To quote him: “the more I
see the less I know, and the greater my need to know more.”
I most enthusiastically recommend him for acceptance to your
prestigious university.
Rate the student from 1-5, with five being the
highest, based upon this recommendation.
Rate the recommendation from 1-5, with 5 being
the highest, using both form and content as guides.
Which recommendation letter is better? Why?
The head of the school who has over 40 years experience in
education wrote today’s recommendation letter. He calls Odysseus one of the
best students ever. How important should these facts be to an admission
officer?
This student applied to schools that use the Common Application.
These schools ask students to supply a recommendation from the college
counselor and a teacher. There are no options for submitting extra
recommendations for students for those schools who limit recommendations. In
fact, some schools have made a point of saying they can make equitable
decisions based only on what a student can submit under the Common Application
guidelines.
If you are the head of a school, or an alum, or another
teacher, or an employer, or a coach, or a community service mentor etc. do you
agree? If you are a student do you agree? If you are an educator not associated
with a selective college or university that limits the number of
recommendations do you agree?
Should a student not provide any additional recommendations
for fear of being turned down for not following directions?
This student was nominated for a scholarship based in part
on leadership and service. Which of the two recommendations would be most
useful for scholarship evaluators?
Is the information provided about Odysseus’s service project
an example of ‘poorism’?
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